Voice Of the People. Interview with a Villager

Today we have a special guest. He is the father of one of the families that was banished from Chief Asuao’s village a month ago. Because he does not want to bring anymore unwanted attention to his village, he has chosen to remain anonymous. So for the sake of this interview, we will refer to him as Bob. Bob thank you for being here.

Bob: No problem.

Elaine: So tell me, what happened?

Bob: So about 6 months ago, there was a group that came to the village teaching us about a great man called Jesus. These people promised us salvation and a better life. However Chief Asuao was not happy with the visitors. He kicked them out because people were starting to worship Jesus and his God. Chief Asuao was threatened because people were starting to seek guidance from the missionaries and from God. The Chief was worried that people would start to question his reign if the missionaries felt that his beliefs were out of line with the mission of God. After the missionaries left, my family continued with our practice and The Chief was obviously disturbed. About a week after the missionaries left the village, Chief Asuao showed up at our home and said that we had leave the village. When we were asked why, he simply replied, “why don’t you ask your God for the answer”. My family was stunned. We did not know what do. Everything that we own and everyone that we know lived in that village with us. We left the village and we were very scared, we did not know what to do. We started to walk towards the nearest town where by God’s Devine grace, we ran into one of the missionaries that had visited our village. We told him what had happened and he referred us to an official at the courthouse. We filed a complaint and were informed that the Chief was not allowed to do that. I was really surprised when the official said that. I had never heard anyone say that the Chief was not allowed to do something. It took about a week and we were back in the village.

Elaine: What went through your mind when you went back to the village?

Bob: I could not believe that somebody from outside of the village told Chief Asuao what to do. I had never seen that happen. I was even more surprised when he was willing to take us back into the village even though he was obviously upset.

Elaine: Do you think that Chief Asuao is more upset about your practice or about the government?

Bob: Honestly, I think that he is upset about my family not listening to his order and having so many people question him. My family has brought a lot of unwanted attention his way and that is obviously the reason he is upset. Chief Asuao is not a bad person and we respect him and know that he will make the right decisions for the village, however he cannot do that if people are going against his will.

Elaine: Thank you very much for coming and meeting with me, your voice is very much appreciated in articulated the true story behind the current conflicts arising all over Samoa.
There you have it although religion has started this fire the fuel that has kept it going is the power struggle between chiefs and government.